


baby pictures

by moonlight_fairytale



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, I just want to write soft valkyrie uwu, Short One Shot, Valkyrie - Freeform, but only a bit of angst, with a pinch of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:01:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26326054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonlight_fairytale/pseuds/moonlight_fairytale
Summary: Oh, he was definitely in for a scolding.Trademark glare?Where did he learn such words? Later, they will have a long conversation about it. For now, he didn't mind trying to look less annoyed with the pictures.---Or, that one fanfic where Mika finds Shu's old albums and recalls a part of his childhood that stings a little.
Kudos: 21





	baby pictures

In a hindsight, Shu should've realized something was wrong. The house was quiet, which was a thing of the past now that Mika was residing with him. He didn't know if it was the presence of someone else or it was specifically Mika that made the difference, but, regardless, the house was rarely quiet nowadays.

He was immersed in organizing his workspace, and with everything in order, he thought about starting a new project. The process of thoughts was very simple from here – he recalled a new technique he saw online and wanted to try it, and afterward he thought about showing it to Mika as well, even if it was too difficult for his level – _it was good to have something to strive for –_ and then he had this odd feeling.

Mika wasn't next to him.

He wouldn't mind it, if not for the reason he asked Mika to _help_ him with the chaos in the workroom.

His first instinct led him to Mika's room, which was empty. He wasn't in Shu's room, either. Not that he'd usually go there without asking before, but he checked, just in case.

Going downstairs, he wasn't in the living room nor the kitchen. Shu was honestly at a loss as to where Mika could've gone. He'd like to think he would've noticed Mika leaving the house or that, at the very least, Mika would've told him so.

He was just about to send a text message to Mika when the latter showed up in the kitchen.

"Oshi-san!"

"Where have you been?" Shu wanted to lecture him, until he saw something familiar in Mika's hands. "Are those…my albums?"

"Yeah! Sorry for disappearin', but when I went to the storage room, I found these 'n…" He stopped to put them on the table and open one of them. "They dressed ya in a dinosaur onesie!"

Mika pointed at the photo, like Shu hasn't seen it before, but Shu didn't have a chance to comment.

"And here yer wearin' a hoodie! Oshi-san really had a hoodie!"

"That's…'' Shu didn't know what to say. "You're exaggerating…"

"It's just super weird to see! Ah, I don't mean t'say that Oshi-san's weird. Oshi-san was super cute as a baby!"

"And…?"

"I'm really sorry that I looked at these without askin' first?" At least he had the decency to look somewhat apologetic, Shu honestly couldn't be mad at him.

"I suppose no harm was done. Although I'm somewhat bewildered with your reaction to, uh, my baby pictures."

Mika took a minute to answer, looking through a different album. There were many photos of Shu as a child, some with Kiryu too. These all felt so nostalgic, after many years Shu hasn't even opened these albums.

"Well, I don't have any…"

"Excuse me?" Shu said, but immediately regretted it. Of course, what _was_ he thinking...

"Pictures of me, I mean." Mika explained, even though there was no need to. "They didn't really take any pictures at the orphanage."

"Well, that's…" A hard subject to tackle, especially with Shu's lacking social skills.

"Uh, sorry, I kinda rambled." Mika rubbed the back of his head. "It's not like we can change the past or somethin', right? So no point overthinkin'."

"Right…"

"I just wonder…" He still wasn't done. Shu tried to gather some patience for this. Not out of rudeness, but because he was exhausted after this day and didn't want to say the wrong thing. "Naru-chan said we could take pictures, so I'll have some."

"That is a good idea." This one occasion Narukami was right. Shu sure hoped she wouldn't hear of this, or he would never hear the _end_ of it.

Mika sat down, staring at one of the pictures. With a quick look, Shu recognized this one, which was taken on his 6th birthday. He knew Mika didn't celebrate birthdays in his childhood, with his birthday being too close to Christmas. When he caught wind of it, he did try to convince Mika to celebrate them separately. But they never took pictures.

"Well. It's not like we don't have 'em. We actually have lotsa pictures of Valkyrie."

"In costumes or in the performances. These are hardly pictures." Shu took a seat next to Mika. "Not of your daily life."

"I know." He bit his lip. Shu would have to remind him later not to do this, but now wasn't the time, evident by the atmosphere. "But I never had any taken before, so it feels…"

"Awkward?" Shu said and Mika nodded. "I suppose it'll feel like that if you're not used to. You can have someone else take them for you."

"Will I be able to?" Now Mika was looking at a picture of Shu in middle school. One of the last he's allowed his parents to take. He was dressed up in the school uniform, unmodified and dull, staring sternly right to the camera. If he remembered correctly, it was his father who took it, and he ended up laughing for the rest of the evening about how Shu was pouting in the picture. "All I know is from the studio, from the photographers. Like how ya gotta pose in a certain way and look at the camera like yer sad – "

"Melancholic." Shu corrected him.

"Yeah, that word. But ya don't do that in this kind of pictures, right?"

"Not usually, because they're meant to preserve memories." So Mika was simply conscious of taking pictures. "But it's not a must. Valkyrie has never adhered to social norms, haven't we?"

"Yer right, Oshi-san." Mika finally smiled. "Can we start now, then?"

"Hold on, I never said I would be part of this – " It was futile. Mika already had his phone out. Shu didn't even have the time to straighten his posture or change his expression.

"Ah, it's all blurry, Oshi-san!"

"Blurry? But of course! Don't take pictures when I move! At least warn me beforehand!"

"Right! I'm takin' another one right now!"

"Kagehira, I didn’t say…" Ugh, whatever. He crossed his arms and stared at the phone's front camera with a dissatisfied glare. "Are you fine with these pictures?"

"Yeah, I like Oshi-san's trademark glare! I wanna preserve that memory too!"

Oh, he was definitely in for a scolding. _Trademark glare?_ Where did he learn such words? Later, they will have a long conversation about it. For now, he didn't mind trying to look less annoyed with the pictures. It's been a while since he saw a camera in unprofessional settings, but if it was for Mika, well…he guessed he could play along for a bit.

**Author's Note:**

> It's an old fanfic I've started ages ago and only finished recently. I liked the beginning and thought it was a shame if I didn't post it, but I wasn't sure about the ending, so...it may feel a little half baked? lol  
> I just love Valkyrie and want to write soft moments of them forever,,


End file.
